Hopefully you now have a fully functioning webstore up-and-running; you’ve added products, setup categories, maybe got your own domain name, submitted your sitemap to Google and created some custom pages. Now it’s time to focus on the visual aspects of your webstore.

Selling online, moreso than traditional shopping, is a visual sell. A significant number of customers, whether they realise it or not, will be affected by the design of your webstore. A unique design built around your products and aimed at the right market can instantly project the right image, appeal to the right demographic and give your customers confidence to buy from you.

We give you complete control over the look and design of your store.

Our “templates” are simply starting points for you – you can then customise the stores to suit your exact needs.

Take a look at some examples…

There are many customisation options available to you within your FreeWebstore Control Panel: from a few colour changes or a striking header design all the way to an eye-catching animated slideshow – and with access to your store’s CSS you really can do it all.

The Design > Customise Design sections of the control panel let you customise several aspects of your webstore, such as the colours, logo, header image, background image, banners and more.

For the advanced user you can also override the CSS used on your store via the Design > Customise Design > Advanced CSS section.

As we’ve seen over the past couple of weeks, FreeWebstore is a powerful selling tool. You could use it totally free forever, never paying us a penny and making unlimited amounts of cash.

Some of our most advanced features are reserved for Business Users, so let’s take a look at what you get when you upgrade:

Removal of the FreeWebstore Banner
The banner across the top of a Free User webstore will be removed.

Upload your Products to Google Shopping
This feature has had a significant impact on many of our existing users’ sales.

Increased Product Limit
Add more products to your webstore.

Add as many pages as you want
You can add an unlimited number of non-product pages to your webstore.

Coupons and Vouchers
Run sales campaigns using our built-in Coupon system.

And a whole lot more!

We continue to add new features every month.To upgrade just visit the My Account section of the FreeWebstore Control Panel and
click on Upgrade My Package for more info

Sadly, we have reached the end of the Getting Started Newsletters – wipe that tear from your eye! But fear not, you can always contact us through the Support section of the control panel. And don’t forget: the Help Guides are always there for you, should you need them. We’ll also contact you from time to time with helpful tips and advice, details on any special offers, and news about any exciting new FreeWebstore features, of which there are many to come!

May we take this opportunity to wish you the very best of luck with your webstore. Good luck, happy selling and thanks for choosing Free Webstore!

We have launched another fantastic new store design. Crystal Clear offers a full width slideshow and image zoom facilities.  It is a mobile first design, so can be viewed perfectly on any device !

Crystal Clear

• Mobile Responsive Design
• Fully Customizable
• Product Image Zoom
• Full Width Slideshow
• CSS3
• HTML 5

Seeking a fresh new look for your store?

You can change the look and feel of your store at the click of a button. Simply select a new design via the Design > Switch Design section of your Freewebstore Control Panel.  You can then choose from the list  of designs and apply it to your account.

No data will be lost!. All your products, pages and categories will be automatically migrated to this new design. No further action is required. You can also customise this new design via the DESIGN > CUSTOMISE DESIGN section of your Freewebstore Control Panel. If you do not like the new look then you can always switch back.

Want Something Special?

Just contact our support team and they will put you in touch with one of our many design partners.

They will create a custom design for you to truly maximise sales in your industry.

You can now access our powerful new Theme Editor via your Freewebstore Control Panel.    The new simplified editor allows you to see the changes you make instantly.  Simply make your design choices using the left hand menu and see how your store looks INSTANTLY !

This is just one of the many new exciting features we are  introducing.   Keep an eye out on here and our Twitter feed for more news in the coming days.

Some users may have been aware that we suffered a network issue at one of our UK based data centers on April 22nd 2014. The issue caused connections to sites and services on our platform to timeout for a small subset of users from around 9:41am BST onwards.

Thankfully most Freewebstore users and website visitors were unaffected and there was no disruption of service for those users. The users who were affected seemed to be reporting that they were unable to view their own website nor the Freewebstore Control Panel. So we were forced to communicate with these users via our Twitter feed. This should be your first port of call if you are ever unable to reach any of our web installations. Here we were able to keep users fully informed of the progress and our continued efforts to resolve the problem. If you were not following us on Twitter before then now is a good time to start. Follow us at https://twitter.com/Freewebstore

As this issue only affected a small percentage of our users it took longer than usual to identify. Within a couple of hours we were able to pinpoint the issue to one UK hosting installation and a potential upstream networking issue within or close to the datacenter. Working further with our hosting partners, we managed to route around the problem for some of our users and a set of corrective measures were drawn up to correct the problem. The problem was down to some Cisco7600 routers. To correct the problem they had to be taken down and the firmware updated then rebooted with a new configuration. The work would cause 5 minutes of downtime but should resolve the issue for all users on all connections. These corrective measures were delayed until 1am BST to avoid any unnecessary disruption to users who were not being affected by this issue.

Meanwhile we kept our Twitter feed up to date and began work on creating a redundant installation in the cloud. We managed to get a second Freewebstore Control Panel online in the cloud at around 18:50pm BST on a new URL. The hope was that users having connectivity issues within the UK may be able to access the new site hosted in the cloud. This was largely successful for most users who were affected by the original issue. This at least gave users access to their store accounts and allowed them to process orders and communicate with their shoppers.

The corrective work at the data center was carried out on time and without any further issues. The down time occurred at around 1:28am BST and lasted for around 4 to 5 minutes. The new hardware was rebooted and all sites and services came back online shortly afterwards. The work corrected the connection issues as planned and normal service was resumed for all users across our platform.

We understand that any downtime is very frustrating to users and all precautions are taken to prevent these types of incidents from happening. Having said that – hardware failures do happen. It affects companies of all sizes. Not even the mighty Google have 100% uptime due to these type of problems. Due to the robust nature of our network architecture a problem as unforeseen as this still only affected a very small percentage of users. We are very proud of our uptime and we continue to strive to get as close to 100% uptime as humanly possible.

We appreciate your patience during scenarios like these and our dedicated network support team will continue to endeavour to make sure you are protected from future incidents.

Remember to follow us on Twitter to be kept fully up to date on all things Freewebstore. Trolls and keyboard warriors need not apply. You know who you are!

You can use the Marketing > Social Media > Social Icons section of the Control Panel to add Social Media icons on your store.   When you enable the social icons and enter your details we will inject small social images to the footer region of your store (See Below)

Please note this feature is only available on the following designs: Lush, SurfShack, Technicolor, Nostalgic, Crystal Clear & IntelligentBeauty

Check out our latest Sales Report (Click To Enlarge).

Increase sales by reaching
millions of new customers

Our new language pack feature allows you to add multiple languages. Your customers can then read the store text in the language of their choice.  This unlocks a massive number of potential customers for your store.

The Design > Language Packs section now allows you to select which language(s) you would like to display on your store. If you choose more than one language pack your customers will be able to select a flag and the text on your store will be translated for them.

Each Language pack can be edited to allow you to translate or change any of the text on your store. Simply click the “Modify” button next to the language pack you wish to edit then find the word or phrase you would like
to change in the list, click the “Edit” link, then enter the translation into the box provided. Click the “Update” button once you’re done, or “Cancel” to discard your changes.

If the language pack is not currently available for selection, you can create your own by using the “Create a new Language Pack” button.

*Multiple Languages are only available to business users.  Upgrade your account today for as little as 25p per day !

We have launched another fantastic new store design. Ritz is a mobile first design, so can be viewed perfectly on any device !  You can also use our brilliant new Language Pack & Social Media functions with this design !

Ritz

• Mobile Responsive Design
• Fully Customizable
• Slideshow
• CSS3
• HTML 5
• Social Media Icons
• Multiple Language Pack Option

View the Demo Here

Seeking a fresh new look for your store?

You can change the look and feel of your store at the click of a button. Simply select a new design via the Design > Switch Design section of your Freewebstore Control Panel.  You can then choose from the list  of designs and apply it to your account.

No data will be lost!. All your products, pages and categories will be automatically migrated to this new design. No further action is required. You can also customise this new design via the DESIGN > CUSTOMISE DESIGN section of your Freewebstore Control Panel. If you do not like the new look then you can always switch back.

Want Something Special?

Just contact our support team and they will put you in touch with one of our many design partners.

They will create a custom design for you to truly maximise sales in your industry.

Like a physical shop you will regularly have customers browse your store and put items in their basket.  Some of these customers may choose to abandon their basket and look elsewhere.  It is a fact of life that more carts are abandoned than completed. This is not down to any mysterious technical issue but is purely down to human free will.

You can use the Abandoned Cart Data to claw back lost sales.  With this information you can perhaps contact the shoppers (to offer discounts?) to seal the deal.

The Marketing > Abandoned Cart Data section of your Freewebstore Control Panel allows you to view your abandoned cart data against successful orders. It also allows you to see at which point the cart was abandoned.  If you click the  “More Details” link you can see details of what items were in the basket when the cart was abandoned.

Use our Product Feeds Feature to upload your  products onto the world’s busiest websites.

It is easy to activate your product feeds.  Use the Marketing > Product Feeds section of your Freewebstore Control Panel to access a huge range of all the popular Product Feeds.  We will provide you with URLs that  allow you to submit your products to the shopping platforms.

To submit your products to a shopping platform, you typically need to set up an account with them and then provide the relevant Product Feed URL. Information on where to sign up and how to access help information for each shopping platform, as well as the Product Feed URLs themselves, can be found in the panels shown in the Marketing > Product Feeds section.

Please note this feature is only available for our Business Users.  Upgrade your Account today and take advantage of our premium features.

Check out our latest Sales Report (Click To Enlarge).

A domain name, like online-shop.com, can give your webstore added credibility, increase shopper confidence and will also make your products much more attractive and visible for search engines to find.

There are a number of ways to register a domain name:

1.  You can buy  a domain name from Freewebstore directly from your Freewebstore Control Panel.  If you use this method the domain name will automatically be attached to your store !

2. There are a large number of websites you can use to cheaply register domain names. A few of the more popular choices are www.godaddy.com and www.123-reg.co.uk. Once you have a domain name, you just need to point it to your webstore. For more information, please log into your Control Panel and visit the Marketing > Domain Name section or feel free to contact our support team who will be happy to get it attached for you.

3.  Alternatively, if you upgrade to either our Professional or Power Seller packages you can claim a free domain name which will automatically be attached to your store.

Are you on the cutting edge of Social Media interaction ?  Got a Facebook page for your business ?  Always Tweeting about your products ?

Social Media is a great way to interact with your customers and give your products more exposure.  Here at FreeWebstore, we’ve got your back with a few handy features that you might not be aware of.

Facebook Storefront

Our Facebook Storefront app allows you to publish your Product catalog directly to your Facebook Business Page using our simple app.  Once you’ve added the app, your products will be integrated into a tab on the page, and can be viewed by customers looking at your business via your Facebook presence.  We’ll automatically keep them up to date for you too.

Products can be Recommended by Facebook users, exposing your products to their Friends list and helping to get the word out.  Obviously there’s also a link to the store page included, so they can purchase the product directly too !

If you already have your Facebook page set up, then it’s just a case of activating the feed, visiting our App Page, choosing which page to add the App to, and entering your unique Shopkeeper ID which can be found in the top right of the “Marketing > Social Media > Facebook Storefront” section in your FreeWebstore Control Panel along with a full set of detailed instructions.

As always, if you get yourself in a muddle, our friendly Support Team are here to help – just drop us a Ticket and we’ll get right back to you (usually within a couple of hours) !

Posting To Twitter and Other Social Media Platforms

Twitter is a wonderful way to keep your customers up to date on new developments with your business, as well as letting them know about your fantastic new products.  When you save a product in your FreeWebstore Control Panel, you’ll get the option to Tweet about it (with a link to the product page) as well as post it to Google+ and Facebook, creating a buzz and letting your Followers know as soon as you’ve got something new in your store.  It’s also a great opportunity for them to ask questions about the product and interact with you, which undoubtedly leads to more sales !

Social Icons

We’ve also recently launched our Social Icons feature on newer designs, which provides a simple way for you to easily link to your various Social Profiles from your store.  You can read more about Social Icons here.

There is one section within the Freewebstore Control Panel that you will probably use more than any other and that is the Manage > Products section.  This is the hub where you add or edit your products so it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with how it all works.  Fortunately we make it is very easy to add products and create fantastic listings so that you can quickly add your products.

When you first visit the Manage > Products section of the control panel you will see a list of all of the products currently on your store (We add a few dummy products to your store to get you started). From there, you can add new products, edit or delete existing products, and view a range of information about each one.

We have launched another fantastic new store design. Forever Retro is a mobile first design, so can be viewed perfectly on any device !  You can also use our brilliant new Language Pack & Social Media functions with this design !

Forever Retro

• Mobile Responsive Design
• Fixed Navigation Bar
• Fully Customizable
• Slideshow
• CSS3
• HTML 5
• Social Media Icons
• Multiple Language Pack Option

View the Demo Here

Seeking a fresh new look for your store?

You can change the look and feel of your store at the click of a button. Simply select a new design via the Design > Switch Design section of your Freewebstore Control Panel.  You can then choose from the list  of designs and apply it to your account.

No data will be lost!. All your products, pages and categories will be automatically migrated to this new design. No further action is required. You can also customise this new design via the DESIGN > CUSTOMISE DESIGN section of your Freewebstore Control Panel. If you do not like the new look then you can always switch back.

Want Something Special?

Just contact our support team and they will put you in touch with one of our many design partners.

They will create a custom design for you to truly maximise sales in your industry.

Your store allows you to add more than product pages, as sometimes you want to provide general information about a product range, information about your company, or even Tips & Tricks that apply to your products ! We provide you with several free pages out of the box, including a Home page to create that first impression and a Contact Form so customers can get in touch.  You can easily change the content via the “Manage > Pages” section of your  FreeWebstore Control Panel  and when you subscribe to any one of our Premium Packages you can even add as many pages as you like !

Use the Manage > Pages section to create and edit non-product pages, such as your Profile and Terms pages.

Pages created here will generally appear in a Store Links area on your webstore, although a specific number of pages (dependant on your chosen design) can be set as part of the Main Navigation. Some existing pages, such as Terms or Privacy, may have a set position on your design and cannot be moved.

Your current pages are shown in the above lists.

Pages highlighted in green with a bold title are part of your Main Navigation.

Pages highlighted in red are Hidden.

Pages highlighted in white will appear in the Store Links section of your webstore.

Pages highlighted in brown have a fixed position on your webstore and cannot be moved.

Pages highlighted in blue are External Links.

Offline payments are a fantastic way of increasing your sales.  Want to offer Cash On Delivery, Bank Transfers or some other manual payment option ?  Subscribers to any one of our Premium Packages automatically get offline payments activated on their account, which allows you to create manual payment instances with a message offering instructions to the user.  This way, you can accept orders, get notified when you’ve received one, and organise the payment yourself without having to go through any of the Payment Gateways !

You can access the Offline Payments feature via the Ecommerce > Checkouts section of your Freewebstore Control Panel.  If you need any help with this or any other subject regarding your store please contact our support team who are always on hand to deal with any of your questions.

We’ve just added a powerful new enhancement to our Product Options feature !

Access to the feature is via the “Product Options” panel on the Product Editor.  Simply enable the option(s) you wish to add images to and start uploading your images.  Easy as that !

As always, if you get yourself in a muddle, our friendly Support Team are here to help – just drop us a Ticket and we’ll get right back to you (usually within a couple of hours) !

A healthy store is one that is visited regularly by Web Spiders. (also known as Web Crawlers)

Use the Marketing > Store Statistics > Web Spider Hits section of your Freewebstore Control Panel to see which Spiders are visiting your store.

Lets take a look at some of the common Bots that you might expect to see on your graphs.

GoogleBot

The GoogleBot is the web spider used by Google, which visits and downloads pages from the web to build the searchable index for the Google Search engine.

You may also be visited by the Mobile version of Google’s web spider. (GoogleBot-Mobile)

BingBot

The BingBot is the replacement to the old MsnBot and is developed by Microsoft.

BingBot is widely used by many Search engine providers including Bing, and is now also used by Yahoo!. The BingBot visits and downloads pages from the web to build a searchable index for these Search engine providers.

Alexa

Alexa is a SEO company owned by Amazon who offer a range of services including health checks and site comparisons.

Alexa also has a site ranking system, showing the top sites on the internet for each country/business category.

Chrome (Mobile)

Not every web spider is as popular as the ones previously mentioned. So we are not always able to determine their origin.

We classify these hits as “Other”, however we do make the distinction between Mobile and Desktop hits. Which is why you may see spider hits from Chrome Mobile

Yahoo!

Yahoo! previously used Yahoo! Slurp as their spider of choice. However now they have moved over to using BingBot used by Microsoft for the Bing Search engine provider.

This is why you may notice a lot of spider hits from the BingBot on your store as it is a very popular spider.

Safari (Mobile)

The same as Chrome, we will make the distinction between Mobile and Desktop spider hits before adding them to the “Other” category.

Which is why you may see spider hits from Safari Mobile.